Chapter 16
16
F leur was so excited about Hawaii that she’d started a notebook on it. It was one of her special handmade books, with beautiful vintage pages, covered in a light padding, a fabric that said “Hawaii" to her, and bookmarks with shells. In specially marked tabulated sections, she’d noted down all sorts of things now that the flights and hotel were booked. She’d saved things to do, set up a packing list, and made notes about food she wanted to try and places to visit. Together with notes on doing all sorts and seeing some of the things she’d seen on her socials, there was a whole section on relaxing and how to do nothing at all—including a very long list of books she had on her list to read, as well as tips on how to switch off when on holiday and details about the treatments at the hotel’s spa. With the amount of money it was costing her, she was going all in.
Sitting on the sofa with a chamomile tea by her side, she relaxed, went through her notebook, and ran her eyes down her packing list. She’d ordered a couple of new swimming costumes, which had arrived and shock horror, she'd actually liked them. She’d bought a nice white shirt-style cover-up and a pair of matching white flip-flops, and she’d treated herself to a white linen strapless dress for the evenings. She did the thing she usually did when she sat with her notebooks; reflected as she turned pages, flicked and pondered. It felt almost surreal to be going away to Hawaii. It wasn’t as if she’d never had a holiday, but when she’d been in the cottage and it was just her and Lucy, there had never been spare cash for exotic holidays. Travel had always come under the category of “luxury”, it had been something that had been saved up for and had nearly always involved a charter flight to Spain. But now here she was, all these years later, enjoying the sheer pleasure and anticipation of planning an exotic jaunt and milking it to the hilt. Fleur Champion was going on a jet plane, and man, was she looking forward to it.
Checking her phone, she noted that it was time for her scheduled call with Wendy in Australia, went out to pop the kettle on, and made another cup of tea. Then she propped her phone up in front of her on the kitchen table and waited for the WhatsApp call to connect.
A few minutes later, Wendy, sitting on her balcony on the other side of the world with a blue sky behind her that was so saturated it didn’t quite look real, smiled. Fleur waved at the screen. ‘Hey, Wens! How are you?’
Wendy raised a coffee mug towards the screen. ‘I’m good. I'm just having coffee. Glorious day here. How’s the weather with you?’
Fleur turned around and looked out of the window. ‘Currently overcast but not too cold, so that’s good. How is it with you?’
‘Yeah, very nice.’
‘The sky looks amazingly blue, like it was painted on.’
Wendy turned around to look at the sky behind her. ‘Well, it was pouring down here yesterday, so there’s that.’
‘You sound bright,’ Fleur noted.
‘I am, actually. I’m doing well, thanks. How are you, anyway? Everything good?’
‘Yeah, everything’s fine. Have you heard from Mum?’ Fleur asked.
Wendy frowned. ‘No, I haven’t. Should I have? Why? Has something happened?’
‘No, no, I was just wondering. Do you know where they are at the moment?’
‘The last time I heard, they were halfway down a Turkish mountain.’ Wendy rolled her eyes.
‘Right, yes, that’s as much as I know. Do you know where they’re headed next?’
Wendy squinted. ‘Croatia, was it? I don’t know. I can’t remember. There was talk about them staying in Turkey for a bit and heading for Istanbul. I lose track of it all, to be honest. And you know how much I’m not that keen on catching up with Mum if Marvellous Marvin is there. He still grates on me, the poor man. He can do nothing right. Cannot stand the little weasel.’
‘I hear you,’ Fleur giggled.
‘How’s Luce?’
Fleur held up her right hand with her first two fingers crossed. ‘Fingers crossed she’s doing well.’
‘The baby and all that? I know she was pretty over the moon about it…’
‘Not yet sleeping so Lucy’s back here and may or may not have lost the baby glow she was on about having a sibling and how fantastic that was.’
‘Hilarious, I thought it might be short-lived, and what about the collapsing and funny turns she had before. Anything on that?’
‘Nope, not even a sniff of it. She looks amazing.’
Wendy nodded in agreement. ‘Yes, I was chatting to her the other day and I thought how well she looked.’
‘The fainting was, hopefully, just because of stress and ballet school. It seems to have left as quickly as it arrived.’
‘Hopefully we’ve seen the back of it.’
‘Yes. I’m a bit nervous about going away and leaving her.’
Wendy tutted and narrowed her eyes. ‘She’ll be fine! You can’t put your life on hold forever.’
‘Nope.’
‘I was going to say to you about your trip, actually. You do know that it’s only about a ten-hour trip from here to Hawaii, don’t you?’
Fleur frowned. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It means that that’s a short trip rather than having a twenty-four-hour flight to London. I could pop over and see you.’
Fleur beamed on the outside, but inside, she wasn’t sure if she wanted Wendy in Hawaii. She did love her sister, for sure, but Wendy had a special kind of way of putting a dampener on things—especially if it involved anything to do with Valerie. She really wasn’t keen on the idea of Wendy muscling in on her trip of a lifetime. She shuddered to think what Patrick would think about it. ‘Ahh, I, umm, err, yes.’
‘So, I could pop over and see you for a weekend or something if you wanted,’ Wendy continued. ‘But then when I thought about it, I reckoned you probably wouldn’t want me to cramp your style and ruin your holiday.’
Fleur laughed, pretending that wasn’t exactly what she was thinking. ‘No, no, all good.’
‘Anyway, have a think about it. I could come for the weekend or something. I wouldn’t want to crash your whole holiday, obviously.’
‘No, no, of course not. Whatever.’ Fleur did not want a guest on her holiday to babysit. She covered a shudder.
Wendy took a sip of her coffee, narrowing her eyes, and studied Fleur through the screen. ‘So, are you excited about Hawaii and Maui? I mean, it’s not every day you jet off to paradise, is it?’
Fleur smiled and thought about the fact that she had a whole book dedicated to her holiday. ‘I am, actually. It feels a bit surreal, to be honest. I’ve wanted to go there for years. It’s like I’ve been building up to this big, shiny thing, and suddenly it’s almost here.’
‘Big, shiny thing, eh? You are funny.’
Fleur laughed. ‘You know what I mean. I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s not just a holiday for me. I know everyone goes all over the world now and you live in Sydney where people jet back and forth all the time but for me, it’s a proper adventure.’
Wendy laughed. ‘I bet you have a notebook on it. You do, don’t you?’
‘I might have…’
‘You and your notebooks. I swear, one day you’re going to write a novel just about making lists.’
‘Hey, don’t knock it. Lists are the backbone of civilisation. Without them, we’d all be wandering around like headless chickens. Ask the Stoics.’
Wendy chuckled. ‘Fair point. So, what’s on this grand list of yours, then? Sun, sea, sand, cocktails, palm trees…’
Fleur reached for her notebook, flipped it open, and turned it to the screen. ‘Well, there’s the packing list, obviously. I’ve got my new swimsuits, a cover-up, and flip-flops. I’ve been researching all these amazing places to eat. There’s this place that does fabulous poke bowls according to Instagram, not that I’m that sure what a poke bowl is but I’ll give it a go. There’s a store that does fresh coconut water straight from the shell…’
Wendy nodded. ‘Very fancy. And what about the “doing nothing” section? I assume you’ve got that covered too?’
Fleur flipped to a page filled with neatly written notes. ‘I’ve got a whole section on relaxation techniques. You know, like how to properly switch off and just be. Plus, I’ve got a massive list of books to read. I’m planning to spend at least one whole day just lying on the beach with a good book and a cocktail. I cannot wait.’
‘Sounds idyllic. I’m a bit jealous. I could do with a bit of that myself.’
‘You should come, then.’ Fleur forced herself to say. She was sure Wendy wouldn't actually put her money where her mouth was, anyway. ‘Even if it’s just for a weekend. It’d be nice to have you there.’
‘I’ll think about it.’
Fleur laughed. ‘To sun, sea, and maybe a cocktail or two.’
‘Nah, you don’t want me there. You need time for you and Patrick.’ Wendy said, raising her coffee mug in a mock toast. ‘To Hawaii, Maui and to you finally getting the holiday you deserve. You are going to have a whale of a time.’
Fleur nodded. She really hoped so. What she didn’t know was that on a tropical island there were going to be a lot more than a few whales.